Delhi polls will be held on December 4
New Delhi:
Twenty-one of 24 sitting BJP MLAs and sons of two senior legislators were given tickets by the party for the December 4 polls for the 70-member Delhi Assembly.
The party released a list of 58 candidates after a lengthy meeting of the Central Election Committee while four seats were left for its ally Akali Dal (Badal).
BJP's chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan will contest from his present Krishna Nagar constituency. He has been representing the seat for past 20 years.
Former Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta has been fielded from the prestigious New Delhi constituency.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who represents the seat in the current assembly, is likely to contest from it while Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal will also enter the fray from here. Mr Gupta had wanted to contest from Shalimar Bagh or Rohini.
Sources in the party said no consensus was reached for eight assembly constituencies and the names will be finalised by the Central Election Committee at a meeting later this week.
Sitting MLA from Hari Nagar constituency Harsharan Singh Bali was not given ticket as the seat was among the four constituencies left for the Akali Dal.
The list of 58 candidates comprised seven candidates from SC community, four women and one Muslim. Almost all major communities have been given representation in the list.
Leader of Opposition in the current assembly V K Malhotra's son Ajay has been given ticket from the prestigious Greater Kailash constituency. Mr Malhotra had decided not to contest and requested the party leadership to give ticket from the constituency to his son.
Senior leader Vijay Jolly was lobbying hard for the Greater Kailash constituency.
Another sitting MLA O P Babbar had sought ticket for his son Rajiv Babbar from Tilak Nagar constituency and the party leadership heeded to his request.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma's son Pravesh has been given ticket from Mehrauli.
Sources said the candidates were largely selected on the basis of results of an internal survey conducted under direct supervision of party's Delhi election in-charge Nitin Gadkari.
They said a number of candidates strongly pushed by Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel were rejected by the Central Election Committee.
Former Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra has been fielded from the Malviya Nagar constituency which is currently being represented by Education Minister Kiran Walia.
Party's Delhi unit General Secretary Shikha Rai will contest from Kasturba Nagar while another senior leader R P Singh has been fielded from Rajinder Nagar.
Delhi unit general secretary and sitting MLA Ramesh Bidhuri will contest from Tuglakabad while former Delhi NCP Chief and prominent Gujjar leader Ram Vir Singh Bidhuri has been given ticket from Badarpur constituency.
Mr Bidhuri had unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly elections on a Congress ticket from Badarpur.
He had joined BJP in September.
SAD has been given four seats Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Kalkaji and Shahdara constituencies.